Theodore stepped toward me and loomed. “You have to come.”
“I can’t.” I set a fist over the pit in my guts. “This bond sets me into a panic when I have to sit there and listen to all that. And in this new life, in this new place, I will not be bent and mistreated. I need to get to the Mage Seer now. I need my prophecy—”
“Mistreated?”
“Yes.”
“No.” Theodore was resolute, his jaw set.
“What the hell do you mean,no?” I stood and met his glower. “This was your plan all along. To separate and send me off.”
“That was before—”
“Beforewhat?”
He froze. Shook his head. “Before we knew this bond wouldn’t settle. Before we knew I was getting married in mere weeks.” He paced, back and forth, and I stared on at a loss for words. Then he stopped in front of me. “Come with me for the remainder of this meeting and I’ll go with you.”
Surprise shot through me. “To the Mage Seer?”
He straightened his coat uncomfortably and nodded.
“Another transaction, then?”
He flinched like I’d cursed, but that’s what it was. Another bargain. Another sacrifice so that I might receive a kindness.
“And besides, you can’t go with me. The empress is here. And your very pretty fiancée and those ridiculous contracts—”
A deep, remorseful crease wrinkled his brow. “I said I’d be scarce before the wedding.”
He had. I couldn’t help but wonder why he’d said it—how he’d known. “Still,” I argued, trying to keep my hair from blowing wild in the sea breeze, “they’ll feel slighted—”
“I’ll gift the princess some jewels. Set off some fireworks in the bay for her.”
I scoffed. “Of course. What woman wouldn’t be distracted by sparkly things—”
“Do you want me to go with you or not?”
“Yes,” I snapped.
“Then I’m going.” He was so still, staring at me just as he had when he’d quieted my tears before Ligea’s statue.
“Fine.” Even angry, I sounded too breathless, too caught off guard.
He dipped his chin. Swallowed hard. “Fine.” He turned from me and started toward the palace, but before he did so, I noted the flustered stain of color on his sharp cheekbones. The way his breath sped. Little glimpses of feeling that he didn’t—or couldn’t—control. He stopped, looked back at me, and spoke in a scraping voice. “If you wish to remain in the garden, you may. I’ll still go with you.”
Words wouldn’t come. Just a deep bloom of gratitude. I stepped onto the path that led toward the palace and gave an appreciative nod. “We should hurry back,” I said. “Duty calls.”
Not two hours later, I stood in an empty, sun-strewn stall in the stables, shoving a saddlebag full of spare trousers and shirts Theodore had lent me. He’d taken great pains to fold them into small, tidy squares and tie them tightly with twine.
The stable hands had been sent away, and across from me, sullen and edgy, Theodore tacked a horse himself. I watched him—the tight way he pulled at straps and tugged on the saddle. The sullen eyes, the stony set of his jaw.
His mood had begun to devolve the moment we’d returned to the Garden Room and the seemingly endless contracts. He’d calcified further with each point discussed, began to bite on his cheek, tap his fingers on the polished tabletop. I could only assume he regretted his decision to accompany me, and it was his gallingly relentless honor that had kept him from withdrawing.
“Will Agatha and Lachlan be here to see us off?” I asked from where I knelt in the clean straw.
“Yes.” He remained intent on his task.
“Are you all right?”
